The idea of genetically modified organisms puts a bad taste in our mouths here at Wild Oats, so we chose to avoid them all together by not including them in any of our natural and organic products. With our food, you can have peace of mind knowing that what you’re eating is actual food.

Do you say no to GMOs? If so, tell us why for a chance to win a Wild Oats prize pack. Comment or reply on our Twitter or Facebook page and you’re automatically entered!

To share on Facebook, simply comment on our Mission Monday post by 8:59pm PT/11:59pm ET tonight to be entered to win!

To share on Twitter, tweet your reason using #WildOatsMission and #sweeps by 8:59pm PT/11:59pm ET tonight to be entered to win!

Full Sweepstakes rules and details can be found here: bit.ly/1DoNN9U

May is Lupus Awareness Month, so it’s a great time to spotlight this mysterious disease that effects more than 5 million people each year. And while lupus is a difficult disease to understand, treat and live with, there is new evidence that what lupus sufferers eat may have a larger impact than previously thought on how disease symptoms present. Can diet hold the key to helping lupus patients have more good days? Research is now investigating whether a diet lower in sugar and carbohydrates could mean less inflammation, which could mean less pain for those who live with this devastating disease.

Over the last 10 years, there have been major advances in the treatment and understanding of lupus, as well as other autoimmune diseases like MS, Crohn’s Disease and even fibromyalgia. The discovery of a new medication to treat lupus, Benlysta, a biologic medication that works to reduce the total amount of disease in the body (as opposed to traditional treatments like prednisone, methotrexate and Imuran, which only treat symptoms) there is hope that lupus patients can lead more normal lives. Benlysta is the first new drug approved to treat lupus specifically in over 50 years. Because Benlysta has been so successful, researchers are looking at lupus in a new way and trying to “think outside the box” in treatment options.

Interestingly, this research coincides with parallel research that has determined that increased sugar intake may have an inflammatory effect on the body. Since lupus works by causing widespread inflammation throughout the body, destroying healthy tissue and causing pain, researchers now think that reducing overall sugar intake may decrease lupus inflammation and reduce the need for medications like prednisone, which have harsh side-effects, including long term bone loss, weight gain and an increased risk of developing diabetes.

Along these lines, there has been research into the idea that certain foods groups, like gluten, might also impact inflammation. Since a gluten allergy is essentially an immune response, it is now thought that limiting gluten may also reduce some typical symptoms, like joint pain, that most lupus patients experience at some time or another.

Lupus is a mysterious and complicated disease that can range from mild to life-threatening. Symptoms of the disease are wide-ranging, since lupus can effect any organ or system of the body — from skin, kidneys, heart, lungs, eyes, liver and even the brain. Lupus symptoms differ from one individual to the next and those symptoms can change on almost a daily basis, becoming better or worse as the disease cycles (called flares).

Limiting sugar and carbohydrates in an effort to reduce overall inflammation will not “cure” lupus. There is no cure for this life-altering disease. But, if following a lower sugar and lower carbohydrate diet, in essence a “whole food diet” can help lupus patients feel better and have less pain, it is worth pursuing as an adjunct strategy to living a healthier and more productive life while dealing with lupus.

You may be wondering how I know so much about lupus. Well, I have lupus. I was diagnosed 21 years ago. I am a living testament to the devastation that lupus can cause in a life.

Over the years I have been hospitalized more times than I can count, and I have lost nearly 50% of my vision to lupus. Lupus has effected my brain, my kidneys, my lungs, my heart, my stomach and even my skin and my hair. And don’t get me started on the pain — oh heavens, the pain.

But I am one of the lucky ones. I have a great doctor that I trust and who is creative and dedicated to my wellness. I can afford the treatments that have made a significant difference in my overall health, and I have a husband, friends and family who are supportive and loving, and understand when I have a bad day. I am able to work, doing what I love, as often as lupus will allow it. And I eat clean, which has also helped me to feel better.

So, can diet hold the key to helping lupus patients have more good days? For me the answer is yes! I hope it can be for you, too.

Peeling an onion and munching it like an apple might seem a tad tough on the pallet — and on the breath as well. But not if the onion you’re eating is one of America’s famed sweet onions, made famous via the town – and soil — of Vidalia, located in Toombs County, Georgia.

May and June are prime times for finding the famed Vidalias at supermarkets and produce stands, when the just-harvested onions are at their peak of flavor and healthfulness.

Along with its flavor, the Vidalia has a unique history.

Mose Coleman, a Toombs County farmer, is credited with essentially discovering the uniqueness of the Vidalia onion in 1931, after he began growing the bulb vegetable during the Great Depression. While onions were surely nothing new, being one of the most famed vegetables in world history, the Georgian farmer was astounded by the way the local soil produced a distinctively sweet and surprisingly mild onion. He quickly began marketing his product locally, reporting his onions were so sweet they could be eaten like a piece of fruit. Customers immediately agreed.

Before long, Coleman was selling his signature onions for $3.50 per fifty-pound bag, a bonanza at the time. Nearby farmers hopped aboard the sweet onion train.

Per the Georgia Vidalia Onion Committee, “Word of ‘those sweet onions from Vidalia’ began to spread throughout the state, and a name was born.”

The popularity of the Vidalia onion quickly went national – and, eventually, global.

Not that the Vidalia was the first sweet onion in the nation. “Bermuda” onion seeds had been introduced to south Texas soil in 1898. The soil there also produced an easily recognizably sweet and mild onion. However, that product’s popularity was limited by the market, which was almost exclusively Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Also, vying for sweetness and popularity is the Walla Walla onion, brought to the state of Washington in 1900 by a French soldier bearing onion seeds from Corsica, Italy.

Because they’re so much easier to consume than their acerbic siblings, such ‘Americanized’ sweet onions have maximized the health benefits of this nutrient-dense vegetable.

No matter which kind you prefer, the onion, along with being low in calories, is a nutritional powerhouse, rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and flavonoids.

Veggie tip: Many of the health features of onion are more concentrated in the outer layers of the flesh. According to The World’s Healthiest Foods (http://www.whfoods.com), “To maximize your health benefits, peel off as little of the fleshy, edible portion as possible when removing the onion’s outermost paper layer. Even a small amount of ‘overpeeling’ can result in unwanted loss of flavonoids.”

Sweet onions lend themselves to refrigerator storage. However, due to the veggie’s high moisture, each onion should be individually wrapped — paper towels work fine — and stored in the crisper drawer. “A few will naturally go bad, but many will keep for months,” says the Georgia Vidalia Onion Committee.

Sweet onions can also be cut and dried at low heat, either in the oven or in a food dehydrator. Once dried (not browned), place in airtight container and store at room temperature.

Another storage method consists of chopping onions, arranging them in a single layer on a cooking sheet and placing them in the freezer until solidly frozen. Then you should quickly transfer the frozen chopped onions into freezer bags or containers and return to them to the freezer, from which amounts can be removed as needed.

Sweet onions can also be cored and frozen whole in freezer bags, though whole-frozen onions should be used for cooking only.

Here’s a great sweet onion recipe for Sweet Vidalia Pimento Cheese (http://www.vidaliaonion.org)

Ingredients: 4 cups freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 small Vidalia onion grated, about 1/2 cup

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons chopped pimentos or jarred roasted red peppers

1/2 cup mayonnaise

Instructions: Put all ingredients into bowl of food processor fitted with metal blade. Pulse until blended to desired texture: should be a little chunky. Serve traditionally on white loaf bread as a sandwich or use as a dip with fresh vegetables (celery, carrots, etc.) or crackers.

OK, swimsuit season is fast approaching! Yikes!  Spring has arrived, and shedding some fat and inches becomes a greater focus for a lot of us.  Don’t get me wrong, we should be paying attention to these things all the time but, we’ll also grab whatever motivation we can find to do the necessary things!
There’s the “healthy eating” part and the Wild Oats community of bloggers (the “Oaties”) gives us all sorts of smart and helpful information.  There are the great Wild Oats products to weave into your healthy diet!  And, there’s the “healthy lifestyle” part …. and that’s where exercise and physical activity come in!

Remember the post I had about “irisin” , the exercise hormone? You should be excited to get moving with that great information!  A recent study  by Harvard researchers looked at whether  resistance exercise or aerobic exercise was better for trimming waist size and burning fat.  Since abdominal obesity (around the mid-section) is particularly dangerous, reducing waist size is good for us, physically and psychologically!  Oh, and I said “resistance exercise”, NOT “resistance to exercise” (just sayin ….).  Resistance exercise includes things like push-ups, weight lifting,  using stretch bands and various exercise equipment.  Aerobic exercise includes such things as jogging, using a treadmill, bicycling, and moderate intensity exercise classes.

This new study included 10,000 men at or over the age of 40.  They were followed for 12 years, and the study also included “couch potatoes” .  Here’s what they found:

• aerobic exercise resulted in the least weight gain over the 12 year period
• resistance exercise resulted in the smallest waist size expansion over the 12 year period
• a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance exercise gave the best results over the 12 year period (less body fat and trimmer waists).

So, the results indicate that both types of exercise are good for us! Aerobic helps us burn more fat.  Resistance helps keep the waist trimmer. If we are doing neither, well, shame on us.  If we are doing one or the other, hey, thumbs up.  If we are doing both …. two thumbs up!!  Swimsuit season 2015!!  OK, bring it on ….

For many of us, organic is a big deal. What makes it a big deal are a lot of little things.

That hits home for me when I drop in at a meeting of the USDA’s National Organic Standards Board (NOSB). The NOSB is a citizen panel that was created under the legislation that authorized national organic standards 25 years ago. The 15 volunteers serving on the board represent various segments of the organic community; farmers, retailers, consumers, environmentalists and scientists.

They are meeting in California this week, and no one would ever accuse the process as being secretive. As the board deliberates the issues, roughly 200 stakeholders in the audience follow the discussion. Nearly half of the four-day meeting agenda is devoted to public testimony.

On some matters, the NOSB input to the USDA is simply advisory. On other matters, the USDA is bound to follow the board’s recommendations.

And that’s where the little things come in.

This week, the NOSB is working through a list of 217 materials—substances—that are currently allowed to be used by organic farmers, and by organic food manufacturers. Should organic farmers continue to be allowed to use diatomaceous earth to control insects? Should dried orange pulp continue to be allowed as a food coloring material? These are all items being weighed by these 15 volunteers.

Little things, to be sure. But food is made up of lots of little things. And the work being done by the 15 volunteers meeting in California this week assure that that those little things are compatible with the principals of organic food and farming.

That little round seal on the front label of most organic foods is a little thing, too. What it represents is a very, very big deal.